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An example system includes an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing. The example system is not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk.

So boys, seems as though Nintendo's filed a patent for a console without a disc reader which imo, is fucking awesome 'cause cards are way faster and can store more data than a disc can. Still, it's better to not expect anything of this until they officially announce it.

Also, for all we know Nintendo could be going digital but it doesn't seem likely given how outdated their mentalities are.

At the time of typing this first paragraph I have not really read the claims. I am going with they tried to patent the idea of a dumb terminal with caching, though I have not seen "for games" be a patent winner yet even if they do have the modern staple of "over a network" in there. What will be doubly amusing is if both Sega and Nintendo have done this before with their Meganet (1990) and Satellaview (1995) systems respectively.

Anyway

Been a little while since I had a laugh at the failure that is the US patent office's prior art and obviousness division. Annoyingly I have to trash every claim in a US patent rather than the house of cards approach I can use for EU stuff.

4) So you hashed/signed and possibly encrypted the program like every marginally secure system basically ever, including the Wii which came out several years before.

5) Multiple storage devices in a computer... well actually I take it all back. That is some completely non obvious stuff there.

6) If I was being less cynical I would have to wonder if Nintendo kind of made their own flash cart that you might be able to get written at a shop, you know like everybody wished the music industry would have done before it got easy.

7) You mean the "if errors then slow your reads" and "try to slow the reads so it does not sound like a plane taking off" code/hardware controllers I have seen for decades are in violation of a future patent? Damn.

8) I am confused. This is either they matched the serials/keys of a device to the host device or they have suggested read speeds in the program. Curiously the GBA featured multiple read speeds/waitstates for the cartridge it had (see the non 08000000-09FFFFFF cart memory mappings, which for an added bonus could even be assigned by the program).

9) I think this might be better phrasing for 8) (which is to say program directed read speeds).

10) This does sound like a flash cart.

Bored now. Cherry picking the good stuff.

13) I am curious here. Either they mean they could have a second console that might have a disc drive (GBA-GC link up? Perhaps instead the PSP go if it talked to another PSP with an optical drive or even better sent a demo over network). Else that time I plugged in a DVD drive to my sata USB caddy probably owes royalties to Nintendo.

14) So that time my brother and I played wireless DS games with our chargers variously plugged in over the course of the session was predicting the future?

17) So the time my powerpc gamecube sent ARM code to the GBA via GBA link cable, or perhaps the time I programmed my nice microcontroller from my X86 PC was a radical thing?

18) Anybody remember when the master system had Alex Kidd on it that would play when you did not put a game in? I know the late 1980's are a bit far back but try anyway.

20) " and at least one of the two modes is a mode for emulating a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to a storage device other than the hard disk drive" So you mean that time I was playing an Amiga emulator and it emulated the disc read times too...

22) A computer running multiple processes and prioritising reads/resources for different programs. Forget all this obvious and prior art stuff as I think I have found something that is clearly impossible.

25) So that remote play thing for the PSP/vita that Sony did does not count?

26) I once got a demo tape from a game magazine, not sure of the year but the fact it came in tape form probably says most things you need to know. On one side was a version of a game for the C64 (a MOS Technology 6510 based computer) and on the other was either an Amstrad (a series of Z80 based computers) or ZX Spectrum (another Z80 based computer) version of the game. A bit newer but I also recall the GB had games that would work differently on a GBC, same processor but in no way cross compatible. I would say the GBA stuff but the GBA had GBC hardware in it and the way things told they were on a GBA was by a minor software quirk rather than anything special.

An example system includes an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing. The example system is not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk.

Claims

1. A stationary game apparatus, comprising: an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data; a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network; and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing, wherein the game apparatus is not provided with an optical disk drive.

2. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a first storage configured of a non-volatile memory, wherein the first storage stores a first program starting to be executed when the game apparatus is started, and the hard disk drive stores a second program starting to be executed after the first program starts to be executed.

3. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 2, comprising a second storage configured of a non-volatile memory, wherein the second storage stores the second program.

4. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 3, comprising: a corruption determination unit determining presence/absence of corruption in the second program stored in the hard disk drive; and a program restoration unit causing the hard disk drive to store the second program stored in the second storage, if the corruption determination unit determines that corruption is present.

5. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a program and/or data concerning a game received through the communication unit is stored in the hard disk drive and is not stored in the first storage.

6. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a connection unit to which an external hard disk drive is detachably connected, wherein the program and/or data concerning a game received through the communication unit is stored in the internal hard disk drive or the external hard disk drive connected to the connection unit.

7. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a speed control unit controlling a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive.

8. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 7, comprising an obtaining unit obtaining identification information of a program to be executed by the processor, wherein the speed control unit controls a speed of reading and/or writing of data in accordance with the identification information obtained by the obtaining unit.

9. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the speed control unit controls a speed of reading and/or writing of data in response to a command from a program being executed by the processor.

10. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processor is able to execute a program which operates by using a different hard disk drive different from the internal hard disk drive, and the speed control unit emulates a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to the different hard disk drive when the processor executes the program.

11. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the speed control unit switches a mode for reading and/or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive to either one of two modes with different speeds.

12. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 11, wherein at least one of the two modes is a mode for emulating a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to a storage device other than the hard disk drive.

13. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game apparatus is compatible with another game apparatus comprising an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk, and a processor for executing the program read out from the optical disk to perform game processing, and an interface for the hard disk drive is same as an interface for the optical disk drive in said another game apparatus.

14. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication with a wireless communication device having an operation unit and a battery, and wirelessly transmitting/receiving information concerning an operation accepted by the operation unit; and a power supply unit to which the wireless operation device is detachably connected via a power supply line, and supplying power to the battery of the wireless operation device via the power supply line.

16. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication with a wireless operation device having an operation unit and a display unit, and wirelessly transmitting/receiving information concerning an operation accepted by the operation unit and information concerning an image to be displayed on the display unit.

17. A non-transitory recording medium recording a computer program executed by the processor of the stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer program includes a processing routine for the stationary game apparatus, and one or more processing routines for a game apparatus having a hardware configuration different from the stationary game apparatus, and the computer program causes the processor to operate as an identification information obtaining unit obtaining identification information of a game apparatus, and a selection unit selecting a processing routine in accordance with the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining unit.

18. A game system, comprising: an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data; a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network; and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing, wherein the game system is not provided with an optical disk drive.

19. A game apparatus, comprising: an internal hard disk drive; and a storage configured of a non-volatile memory, wherein the storage stores a first program starting to be executed when a game apparatus is started, and the hard disk drive stores a second program starting to be executed after the first program starts to be executed.

20. A game apparatus, comprising: an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data; a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing; and a speed control unit controlling a speed of reading or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive, wherein the speed control unit switches a mode for reading and/or writing data with respect to the hard disk drive to either one of two modes with different speeds, and at least one of the two modes is a mode for emulating a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to a storage device other than the hard disk drive.

21. The game apparatus according to claim 20, comprising a connection unit to which an external hard disk drive is detachably connected, wherein the speed control unit emulates a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to the external hard disk drive in the mode for emulating.

22. The game apparatus according to claim 20, wherein the processor is able to execute in parallel a plurality of programs including a program concerning a game and/or a program other than the program concerning a game, and the speed control unit switches the mode for reading and/or writing of data, for each program being executed by the processor.

23. A speed control method of controlling, in a game apparatus including an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a speed of reading or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive, comprising: obtaining identification information of a program to be executed; and switching a mode for reading and/or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive to either one of two modes with different speeds in accordance with the obtained identification information.

24. A non-transitory recording medium recording a computer program, causing a processor of a game apparatus including an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data to operate as a speed control unit switching a mode for reading and/or writing of data with respect to the hard disk drive to either one of two modes with different speeds in response to a command from a program being executed.

25. A game apparatus, comprising: a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication with a wireless operation device having an operation unit, a display unit and a battery, and wirelessly transmitting/receiving information concerning an operation accepted by the operation unit and information concerning an image to be displayed on the display unit; and a power supply unit to which the wireless operation device is detachably connected via a power supply line and supplying power to the battery of the wireless operation device via the power supply line.

26. A non-transitory recording medium recording a computer program executed by processors of a plurality of types of game apparatuses with different hardware configurations, wherein the computer program includes a plurality of processing routines for each of the plurality of types of game apparatuses, and the computer program causes the processor to operate as an identification information obtaining unit obtaining identification information of a game apparatus; and a selection unit selecting a processing routine in accordance with the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining unit.

I honestly ok with this. I've pretty much started converting over to digital slowly over the last year because I released just how much hassle disks really are. I rarely buy physical copies anymore, unless I feel like I need one and if I don't, I sell it back and buy the digital copy instead.

Whether I will reliably be able to pick up this device's games in some 30 years like I can NES games today is up for debate. I am not sure what lifetime they might project but 5 years (more or less the legal minimum in much of the world -- in the UK see sales of goods act) is more than doable and a more consumer pleasing 10 years is well within reason as well. If they can back it with a reasonable online service (yes yes it is Nintendo, chances of such a thing happening and all that) then it becomes something of a moot point.

What bugs me about the idea of digital only is what happens years down the line? Say twenty years from now, their digital service is gone and something happens to your console (which the game is tied to)? You'd normally lose your game. Now granted, I generally mod my consoles, so I could probably eventually dump the software and have a backup, but that's a roundabout way to achieve what I can already do with physical media. A physical copy isn't tied to a console, if something happens to my SNES, I can just find another SNES and throw the cartridge in that.

You would have to be bat shit crazy to purchase, what could be hundreds of dollars, using Nintendo's backwards thinking, archaic online network.

And for those people saying "oh this is their chance to magically turn things around...." They had that chance with the 3ds, wiiu and even the wii.

Nintendo games are so small in scope these days they should do what sega did back in the 90s with hotels/motels. A streaming (online, not over satellite like sega) only box. Monthly subscription for all games which are streamed and stored temporarily on the console.

An example system includes an internal hard disk drive storing a program and/or data, a communication unit transmitting/receiving a program and/or data via a network, and a processor executing a program stored in the hard disk drive to perform game processing. The example system is not provided with an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk.

Click to expand...

Ladies, gentlemen, the future is here. Goodbye, clunky mechanical disc drives, hello replacable, upgradable HDD/SSD storage! Don't even hope for cartridges with 50GB+ capacity (a 60GB SSD drive costs around $30-50, even if Nintendo ordered the barebones flash modules in bulk and assembled them into cartridges for storage, it'd inflate the price of games by $10-20 at least, far too expensive at the end of the day), this is going to be all digital. No more queues, no more "shortages of stock", just getting games Day 1 from the comfort of your sofa. There's only one aspect of digital that's inferior to physical media and that's the collector's value, but considering the convenience of digital, it's a price I'm willing to pay, albeit with a tear welling up in my eye.

Seeing how Nintendo's online infrastructure (and their entire "philosophy" on online play) is still stuck in 2000, I highly doubt they'll manage to successfully go "all digital" with whatever this patent pertains to.

I doubt it's for the NX, though, I'm sure they're going to try and go with a Wii U Mini where instead of no online it just goes no physical. Make the console small as fuck, price it cheap as hell, then hope someone will actually give a shit?

What's interesting this patent states that games will have more than one hardware configuration and hardware selects which one to run.

So like multiple form factors, same OS like ios/andriod and software runs accordingly to that hardware. In this this case I see a handheld and console. Why would Nintendo do this, when they can charge for the same game twice on both hardware to gain $$$. Crossplay would be easier on the other hand.